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Terminator 2: Judgment Day Throwback Review

Welcome,

Along with my “new” movie reviews, I’ve decided to do throwback movie reviews. Much like in the way my friend Jordan does his throwback album, & artist profiles. (See link: http://bit.ly/xaoe91). I’ll try to keep it short though; I’ve chosen to do Terminator 2: Judgment day (T2) as the first throwback, which will play out as follows: Cast/actors, director, plot & the clarity of the plot, quality of the disc & or features, and of course the ratings of the movie. So let’s get to it (fyi, the version of the film selected will always be Blu-ray disc, unless stated otherwise).

The year was 1991 & Wayne Gretzky scored his 700th goal against the NY Islanders. In the 41st NBA All-Star game, the East beat the West 116-114. The four police officers who beat Rodney King are charged, and “Terminator 2: Judgment day” was released in North america on July 4th.

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, & Edward Furlong as John Connor (teen) and T2 was directed by the Avatar visionary, Canadian born, James Cameron.

11 years after the events in the original Terminator movie, Sky net an “evil” super computer from the future, has figured how to send back one of its infantry robot units, a T-1000 to the year 1995 to kill the leader of the resistance… While he’s still a child. Hearing of this, the resistance send back a reprogrammed T-800 back as well to aid in the protection of the young man. It’s Terminator vs Terminator.

The plot seems to be executed well. In my opinion it has two halves that I call “Hunt & kill John conner” which is roughly the first 90mins and “prevent the deadly fate of the future” in the remaining running time of the film. The cinematography in the film is pretty damn good. THERE’S NO SHAKY CAM! Cameron directs this movie so well. the actors for the most part portray the characters with such depth, in particular Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor. You could tell she knew how her character was to be feeling every moment she was on screen. This had to be the best performance of Rob Patrick’s a career. He has limited lines but you can tell he enjoyed the role. The contrast between Arnold’s rough body builder frame, to Patrick’s sleek, toned, slim, agile frame worked perfectly for the movie. Think of your first cell phone (or the first one you ever saw)and compare it to the one you have right now; It’s smaller and sleeker than its predecessor. Even Furlong as John Connor was good. His voice is annoying, but he’s 10, cut him some slack. He really played that 90’s troubled youth kid well. If you watched the Simpson’s in the 90’s you know exactly what I’m talking about; He was as close to a live action Bart as we’re ever gonna get. The film loses a bit of its luster when we’re at the Creator of Sky net, Miles Dyson’s home. The acting feels forced, and not practiced. Action wise, T2 has approximately 9-10 action sequences/scenes, and all executed with the best imagery/ camera angles possible. Damn, I love this movie!

The most referenced run in film history happens twice, 30 or so mins in & 54 or so mins in..then.. There’s Cyberdyne action sequence… To say it Clutch is an understatement. Then.. The factory scene.. MY GOSH! Just go watch it please! ‘Nuff said!!!

The version of the T2 blu-ray I have is just commentary with nothing else on the special features menu. There is another version however on both dvd/blu ray called T2: “Sky Net Edition. It has more features and limited edition box case. And updated sound quality & picture (better picture being on blu ray of course).

Overall rating of the movie: 4.9 out of 5, cinematography: 3.6 out of 5, editing: 4 out of 5, Audio: 4.7 out of 5, Effects: 5 out of 5.

Hope you enjoyed my review of the great action/adventure/sci-fi film of all time. (Be that bias or not.) Sorry for the length

2 thoughts on “Terminator 2: Judgment Day Throwback Review”

”RODNEY KING BEATING Not in the movie, but occurred when the film was in production. If you see the film of the Rodney King beating, only the distant view, the film crew of Terminator 2 is visible, shooting a scene on Lakeview Terrace, a scene that features Arnold’s Terminator saying “We have to avoid the authorities”.”